Friends & Rivals

National Signing Day - Class of 2000

Signatures Send Osceola Teammates To Fsu, Florida

February 3, 2000|By Bill Buchalter of The Sentinel Staff

Off the football field, the camaraderie continues. On the field ... well, that's another story.

For Osceola High stars Willie Green and Chad Mascoe, five years of teamwork ended with Wednesday morning's signings of grants-in-aid with Florida and Florida State, respectively, and a new era of rivalry begins.

Green, who shattered Emmitt Smith's state career touchdown record this year, is a big part of Florida's finest recruiting class since 1992. Mascoe, who played seven positions at Osceola, helps Florida State fill a need at linebacker and is a major player in another strong class that already has four top players enrolled for spring practice.

The emotion of National Signing Day has added meaning for Green and Mascoe. The longtime friends are heading to heated rivals who were among college football's most successful programs of the 1990s.

``We've been together since the eighth grade, and we've always been on the same team together, on the same side of the ball together,'' said Mascoe who is 6 feet 3 and 225 pounds.

Green, a Parade All-American, said, ``Everybody jokes around about us playing against each other, but we are good friends so we let them talk. We will let our playing do the talking.''

Mascoe never has tackled Green, but he knows how tough his buddy is to bring down.

``All the other teams can tell you how tough it is to tackle Willie,'' Mascoe said. ``I can tell you how he thinks. I've never seen a back who runs as hard as Willie in high school. I've seen a lot and played against a lot, but I never saw anybody who can be as bad as Willie can be.

``It's hard to guess what Willie is going to do. Like Barry Sanders, he might try to put a move on you, or like Eddie George, he may try to run over you. When you go head-to-head with Willie, you better have your mind straight ... or he will do it to you.''

Green had similar praise for his soon-to-be rival.

``Chad is going to play hard for four quarters, and he's going to keep coming after you,'' Green said.

Green had said Springfield Rutherford defensive lineman Mark Tibbs was the toughest defender he had faced last fall. But he said there is no comparison between Tibbs, who signed with Division I-AA Jacksonville State, and Mascoe.

``You can't compare a defensive lineman to Chad. He can hit like a lineman and run like a back,'' Green said. ``But I'm not going to worry about coming face to face; I'm going to leave that up to the offensive linemen. That is their job.

``Chad is a great player who has a way of knowing how to go where the ball is going. When that time comes, whatever happens is going to happen.''

``I'm going to be able to relax for the first time because I will be a winner either way,'' Paradiso said. ``I'm just real proud of both of them going to major universities. They will take a part of Osceola with them. It will be a pleasure and treat for us to watch them play.''

Both relish the challenge of playing against each other and said there wasn't a lot of discussion about going to school together.

Mascoe is a longtime Florida State fan, having spent much time with his grandfather, an FSU backer, in Thomasville, Ga., just a long touchdown run away from Tallahassee. But Green didn't view FSU - which has a number of returning running backs - as a possible destination. He took officials visits to Missouri, Maryland, Clemson and Florida, and he canceled a scheduled official visit to Miami.

Despite their friendship, both are acutely aware of the intensity of their new rivalry.

``On the field, we can't be friends anymore, but off the field, we always will be old friends,'' Green said.

``From now on, on the field, it will be, `Beat Willie and hit Willie.' I'm looking forward to it,'' Mascoe said. ``I'm going to work hard so I get on the field and play [as a freshman). Defense is what I wanted to do since my freshman year, and now I have a chance to do it.''

Green wants to begin showing Gators coaches what he can do in an effort to hit the field as a freshman. Both will attend summer school as a prerequisite for enrolling in the fall.

Before that happens, they remain teammates and close buddies. Green began track practice last week and also is on the weightlifting team. Mascoe is a starter for the basketball team and wants to give baseball a shot in the spring.

But in the back of each player's mind is college football - and an opportunity after all these years to take his best shot at his best friend.